Nicaraguan Cardinal Leopoldo José Brenes Solórzano met this Thursday with Pope Francis, to whom he explained the “reality” of the Nicaraguan Catholic Church, whose bishops have been branded as “coup plotters” and “terrorists” by the Nicaraguan president. , the Sandinista Daniel Ortega.
The Archdiocese of Managua, led by Cardinal Brenes, said in a statement that the hierarch was received by the Argentine pontiff in a private audience, as part of his visit to Vatican City.
“In that meeting, the Cardinal expressed the affection and prayers of the Nicaraguan people, as well as the reality of the Church in the country,” said the Archdiocese of Managua, without further details.
According to that Archdiocese, the Holy Father sent his blessing and closeness to Nicaragua.
Brenes has been in Vatican City since last Saturday with the judicial vicar of the Archdiocese of Managua, priest Julio Arana, according to public information.
Cardinal Brenes has also participated in meetings with the bishops that make up the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM), and those of the Episcopal Conference of Italy.
The visit of the Nicaraguan cardinal and the private audience held with the pontiff take place in the midst of a particularly turbulent last year for the Catholic Church of Nicaragua with the Ortega government.
Ortega accuses the Church of “perfect tyranny”
The Nicaraguan Justice will seat four Catholic priests in the dock on December 1 to answer for the alleged crimes of conspiracy to undermine national integrity and propagation of false news to the detriment of the Nicaraguan State and society.
The four priests, plus two seminarians and a cameraman from the Diocese of Matagalpa, in northern Nicaragua, have been in prison since August 19.
That group of religious and lay people, together with Bishop Rolando Álvarez, were abducted early Friday, August 19, by police officers from the Episcopal Palace of the Diocese of Matagalpa, after having been confined for 15 days.
Since then they have been in the “El Chipote” police prison, officially known as the Judicial Assistance Directorate (DAJ), with the exception of the bishop.
Álvarez, bishop of the diocese of Matagalpa, apostolic administrator of the diocese of Estelí, both in northern Nicaragua, and who has not been formally charged, has since been under “home protection” in Managua, according to the National Police.
The National Police, led by Francisco Díaz, President Ortega’s brother-in-law, accuses the chief and his collaborators of trying to “organize violent groups,” supposedly “with the purpose of destabilizing the State of Nicaragua and attacking the constitutional authorities.”
On September 28, Ortega attacked the Catholic Church, accusing it of not practicing democracy, of being a “dictatorship” and a “perfect tyranny” and of having used “its bishops in Nicaragua to stage a coup.” to his Government in the framework of the demonstrations that broke out in April 2018 over controversial social security reforms.
Relations between the Sandinistas and the Nicaraguan Catholic Church have been marked by friction and mistrust in the last 43 years.
